I'm not reading the rest of the article - but have one question. Why would the illegal segment disappear just because we offered incentives for some to come foreword and present themselves for identification and authorization? It would still be far cheaper for some employers to pay 20% below legal worker wages. What is missing from this is trading legalization en masse for the imposition of real border controls. Unless that happens any legalization program will be muted in its beneficial impact by the continued presence of illegals.
If we provided a legal avenue for American employers to get the foreign workers they have to have in order to stay in business, that would reduce the demand for illegal immigrant laborers, and permit us to enforce the sanctions against those which still chose to go the illegal route.
We can't can;t afford to prosecute American businesses today that hire illegals because our economy is dependent upon those businesses. Business are the golden gooses we can't afford to kill.
Remember that when you see a production floor that has employees that look illegal, that on the second floor are bookkeepers, managers, salesmen, engineers, secretaries, etc.. who would be out of jobs if the production line stopped.